Emotional Tether
by ObrienLover24
Summary: After a fatal car crash that leaves Scott no choice but to bite him, Stiles now has to fight the urges and deal with the problems of being a werewolf, but he will need some help. (Stydia story)
1. Crash

"It's good to have you back. I have the girls back at my house waiting for us" Stiles heard Scott tell him as he watched the cars go past out of the car window.

"Come on dude I said no party!" Stiles protested, turning the radio dial backwards and forwards to try and pick up a good station.

"It's not a party. Anyway, you just came back from university and I haven't seen you in months!" Scott grinned, "You deserve to have a party"

Stiles smiled and rolled his eyes at his best friend in fake annoyance - he was happy to know that his friends had all missed him.

Stiles closed his eyes, resting them as Scott turned the car around the corner. He hadn't slept at all the night before because of the excitement of seeing everybody again. He drifted off for a while before the sound of screeching tires and a yell of shock from next to him jolted him awake again. There were two headlight beams on their side of the road coming towards, inching closer every passing second.

Stiles and Scott both screamed in fear as Scott veered his car over to the other side of the road, losing control and hitting his front tires against the curb. The whole car jolted at the impact and the back of the car lifted off of the ground and flipped forward, over the edge. Pain surged through Stiles' un-steatbelted body as his slammed against the roof and sides while the car tumbled down the ditch.

Eventually, they hit the bottom and the movement stopped. Stiles now lay out of his seat in the middle of the car, directly underneath the, now cracked, mirror where he could see his bloody, bruised and grazed face. His head vibrated in pain as he turned to try and find Scott. He wasn't next to him, making Stiles panic. In fear of his friend's life, he frantically searched for him. When he looked down to the bottom of the car, he noticed a large jagged piece of metal sticking out of his chest, blood seeping out around it.

Stiles let out a loud shriek at the sight of the wound, mostly in shock rather than pain. Suddenly, the car door on his side was ripped off the hinges and Scott's terrified face emerged. He was on the phone to someone, judging by the way he spoke it seemed to be his mom.

"He looks really bad, there's something from my car stabbed through him!" Scott shouted down the phone in a stressed tone.

Stiles couldn't help notice that his friend had healed already - one of the many benefits of being a werewolf. Stiles on the other hand, would most likely die from this bad an injury and he knew it.

"You're going to make it Stiles, stay with me" Scott was now leaning inside the car over Stiles, constantly talking to try and keep him awake.

Stiles tried to answer but all that came out of his mouth was a spurt of blood and a gargle. His vision blurred and fatigue washed over his body. Scott grabbed hold of his face and gently slapped his cheeks, desperately trying to save him.

"Stiles stay awake. I'm going to call Malia and let her, Lydia, Allison and Kira know what's happening", Scott informed him, pulling away from the car and out of Stiles view.

Stiles thought about Lydia. Although the he was excited to see them all, Lydia was who he wanted to see most. They had spoken over the phone a few times while he was at university but he had missed seeing her face. He had felt terrible about it; he was dating Malia, but right now the thought of Lydia was all that was keeping him awake. Scott's head reappeared as ambulance sirens sounded in the distance.

"Malia's not picking up. I'll try Lydia when we get to the hospital", Scott reassured Stiles, looking around for signs of the ambulance. "Stiles, you're going to make it... I'll make sure of it" Scott gave him a knowing look and Stiles knew that he was talking about the bite.


	2. Warning

Lydia grinned as she listened to confessions from the other girls. Kira started to confess about a small crush she has on Jared Greenberg, making them all roar with laughter and she covered her face with a pillow in regret.

"Before Stiles left for university, his dad walked in on us", Malia blurted out, joining in on fun. Everyone was stunned; she didn't usually join in with them.

After a few seconds of shocked silence, Kira and Allison's giggles and questions sounded. Lydia stayed quiet; she would never admit it to anyone but she had always been kind of jealous of stiles and Malia - probably because he used to give her all of his attention and then Malia came and stole it, she didn't feel that way about him... Did she?

"What about you Lydia?" Allison beamed.

Suddenly a sharp pain hit Lydia's chest, making her clasp it and take a sharp intake of breath.

"Lydia what's wrong?" Allison touched her arm gently, concern now filling her tone and replacing the jokey one.

She was about to say she was okay when a whispery voice sounded from behind her. She quickly stood up and spun around to face the direction it came from. Chatters came from her desk but she couldn't make out where it was coming from, she wasn't very good with her powers yet.

Lydia knew it was a warning - she had now been a banshee long enough to know what they felt like. Turning around, she spoke to her friends.

"Cover your ears", she commanded.

"What, why?" Malia protested.

"Just do it"' Allison told her, obviously catching on to what was happening.

The three girls all covered their ears and Lydia sucked in a deep breath, releasing it in a powerful, ear-splitting scream. The girls had pained expressions on their faces; their hands weren't enough to muffle her shrieks.

Lydia could now hear where the whispers were coming from, they drifted out of a picture sitting on the desk in Scott's bedroom of them all. She could also hear the name they were calling... Stiles.

Panic filled her whole body and she felt her hands start to shake. She could barely move as Allison tried to get her to explain herself. Lydia's phone started to vibrate inside her pocket, snapping her out of her state. She yanked it out and answered immediately as she saw Scott's name on the screen.

"Is he okay, what happened to him?" She asked, her voice and breathing quickening.

"How did you know?" Scott sounded stressed and had clearly been crying.

"I heard it. Where is he?" Her eyes started to brim with tears.

"Beacon hills memorial. There was a car crash, he's is a real bad shape", Scott's voice cracked as he didn't even bother to hide how vulnerable he felt.

"We're coming!" She told him, hanging up the phone and rushing around Scotts room to get her shoes.

Malia's had her mouth open wide in shock - she had been listening in on the phone call.

"What's happening?" Allison demanded impatiently.

"We're going to the hospital... Stiles is hurt" 


	3. Bite

Lydia and Kira squeezed into the back of Allison's car. Malia got the front seat and Allison was driving. The journey started off silent and nobody spoke to each other until halfway to the hospital when Lydia started to hear a beeping noise.

"Can anyone hear that?" she flinched each time a beep erupted, getting louder as they neared the hospital.

"Hear what?" Malia turned to face her with a frown of confusion.

"The beeping!" Lydia shouted impatiently, her ears starting to ring from how loud it was getting. Everyone simply shook their heads and Allison stepped harder on the acceleration.

The car pulled into the hospital parking lot and they all rushed out of the vehicle and towards the entrance. Lydia froze as she realised something – the beeping had stopped. She started to panic; if it stopped it could mean he was dead.

"Scott!" Lydia heard Kira call out. She turned to see Scott running towards them, covered in blood.

"Oh my god Scott, are you okay?" Allison worriedly examined her boyfriend.

"Most of it isn't mine…" Scott glanced over at Lydia for a few seconds and then Malia.

"Is he okay?" Lydia winced when he didn't answer straight away, practically praying for him to still be alive.

"I… In the ambulance he… I, I had to…" Scott stuttered, making her heart beat speed up dramatically.

"What, what did you have to do?" Lydia started to raise her voice slightly without meaning to.

Before he could answer, Melissa came up behind him. She was wearing blue gloves that had blood lining the fingertips. Her usually cheerful face was replaced by a worried and stressed one – everybody knew that Stiles was like a second son to her.

"Mom, is he okay?" Scott asked before Lydia could. She couldn't help but notice how calm Malia remained, even in this situation.

"He lost a lot of blood, especially since we had to remove the metal while he was still in the car. That's not the only thing though", Melissa leant in close to them all so that people near them wouldn't hear what she was about to say, "He has a bite mark on his arm"

Lydia noticed Scott's face turn guilty as he ran his fingers through his hair. She caught his glance for a second, his eyes confirming what she had been guessing.

"You bit him?" Lydia exclaimed, even though she already knew the answer. Everyone stared at Scott as they realised what he had been trying to tell them all.

After a few seconds of silence, they all spoke at once. Lydia backed away from her group of friends, unnoticed, and stepped in the direction Melissa had come from. All sounds were muffled as the shock of the events truly kicked in. Lydia glanced in each room as she passed them, searching through window after window. Eventually, in the second room from the last, she saw Stiles' body lying in a bed. He had no shirt on and a large bandage was wrapped around his chest, another one on his arm.

Lydia fumbled with the handle on the door and opened it, without thinking about the consequences of being caught (visiting hour ended at 5:30pm and it was 5:45) She ambled over to the side of his bed and laced her fingers through his.

"You're going to be okay Stiles", she whispered, tears starting to form at the sight of the cuts and bruises on his face.

"Lydia?" a voice sounded from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Stiles' dad stood in the doorway. His eyes were red and puffy – he must have been crying on the way here. She expected him to turf her out; only family could see him after visiting hour. Instead, he smiled at her.

She smiled back sympathetically and traipsed over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. She had always liked Stiles' father; he was gentle and kind to her without treating her like a child.

They sat next to the hospital bed and talked for a while, mostly about Stiles and all of the funny memories they had of him to try and cheer themselves up a bit. About fifteen minutes after Sheriff Stilinski arrived, Scott rushed into the room, his face red and flushed.

"Guys she's here!" he called out, giving her a quick comforting nod and then approaching Stiles' dad.

One by one, the rest of her friends piled into the small room. If Malia was upset, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it because Lydia couldn't tell at all. She made sure to glance at her from time to time, checking how she was handling it and every time she looked, Malia seemed to be taking it better and better.

At 7:15, Kira left to go home and then an hour later, Allison and Scott left too. Scott was going to stay longer but wanted to make sure Allison got home okay and he didn't have a car anymore; it got wrecked in the accident.

"Lydia, Malia… how will you get home?" Scott asked before he left.

"I'll take them back", Sheriff told him. Malia nodded and went back to her phone call with Kira, asking if she got back alright.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Lydia declared, shooting Malia a brief glare.

"I'll stay too", Malia added. She had made her decision to stay because of Lydia's glare but she pretended she didn't notice it.

Stiles' dad left at 12:55am – he had to get up for work in less than four hours so he wanted to get a little bit of sleep. Malia had passed out on a chair in the corner a while ago. This left Lydia pretty much alone, holding onto Stiles' hand.

Just as her eyes started to drift closed, a sudden thought occurred to her: what about the bite?

She checked to make sure Malia was still asleep; she knew what she was like and she knew she would argue about taking the bandage off. Lydia gently pulled the dressing on his arm downwards, revealing where the bite is... where the bite was. The skin had no trace of an injury ever being there, even the blood was gone.

Lydia quickly grabbed the phone out of her pocket and dialled Scott's number.

"Malia, wake up!" she yelled as she listened to the call ringing, waiting for Scott to pick up.

Malia's eyes squinted open, "What?" she sat forwards and roamed her eyes multiple times from Lydia to Stiles, checking for any abnormalities. Scott answered his phone a few seconds later, his voice sounding husky with sleep.

"Stiles is healing", she informed them both, grinning as she glanced down at the unconscious boy; he was going to survive.


	4. First Full Moon

Stiles sat up, surrounded by his friends in the hospital. He had slept all night and the first person he noticed when he had woken up this morning was Lydia. She had been sitting next to him, holding his hand.

"Is someone going to tell me why you all look so happy that I'm in hospital?" he asked in a jokey voice – he did actually wonder why they were so happy though.

"Who's going to tell him?" Allison looked around at them all. Stiles couldn't help but notice her lingering on Lydia a little longer than the rest.

"I will", Lydia stepped forward, looking at Stiles the whole time. Stiles looked back at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Scott had to bite you", she bit her lip. Stiles' heart stopped as he rapidly searched his chest for the hole that should be there from the metal, there was nothing but skin.

"So I'm… I'm a…"

"Yeah", Scott answered, cutting him off. Stiles noticed the guilty expression that Scott was wearing.

Even though Stiles was panicking right now, already scared about things like control, he smiled at his best friend, "Thanks"

Scott looked at him, his guilty look consumed by a surprised one as he smiled back. Stiles saw his dad come through the door and he stood up, pretty much running into his father's arms, needing the comfort.

"You're okay" his dad whispered, hugging him tightly, "Scott said you'll be okay now"

Stiles pulled away slightly, "Scott told you?"

His dad nodded and pulled him back into a hug. Stiles was surprised that his dad was taking it so well, but he guessed that it was probably because being supernatural was better than him being dead.

"The full moons tonight. Deaton said we can use the animal clinic", Scott explained, breaking them away from each other to look at him.

"The full moons tonight?" Stiles yelled, feeling his heart beat start to speed up; he was actually scared. He had never thought that a werewolf would feel scared when he had locked Scott up on full moons, but he was terrified right now.

"Stiles, it's going to be okay", Lydia reassured him. His heart rate instantly calmed down at the sound of her voice but he was still scared – Scott and Malia always sounded like they were in pain when they turned on a full moon.

The sheriff took Stiles home and told him to relax until the time came but he couldn't. He spent hours trying to find something calming to do. He watched a movie, read an entire book, tried to sleep, nothing was working. As the sun went down, a sudden sharp stink erupted in his brain making him clasp his head and wince.

"Stiles, time to go", his dad shouted through the closed door.

Stiles looked at the clock and felt like crying as the fear hit him; the moon was starting to affect him now. He stood up and rushed out, his head thumping and his breathing becoming heavier: it felt like a panic attack.

The car ride over to the animal clinic was silent… for his dad. Stiles could hear every little rustle and snap from outside the car. He could hear the wind howling right in his ear drums, making him grip hold of the car tightly to stop himself from screaming.

When his dad pulled his car onto the gravel of the animal clinic, Stiles leapt out of the car and ran inside the building. He saw Scott standing with chains, Lydia and Malia next to him. Scott's mouth opened when he noticed him and when Stiles looked in the mirror behind Scott, he knew why. His eyes were a luminescent shade of golden yellow.

Stiles' head felt like it was about to explode as the sound of the chains being wrapped around his body echoed inside him. He heard a growl and looked worriedly at Scott, realising it had come from himself.

Stiles desperately tried to fight it but he had a sudden urge to rip the flesh off of Scott's face and eat it. The same urge came when he looked at Malia and he jumped forward at her but was yanked backwards by the chains around his arms, making him roar in frustration. He pushed his arms downwards at full force, trying to break the metal containments and give him access to move freely.

The sound of Scott trying to calm him down only made him angrier. He continued to pull on the chains, trying to snap them. Eventually, the chain on his right arm cracked and broke out of the pins in the wall holding them in place. He lunged his clawed hand forwards, reaching for Malia's legs and making her jump backwards.

"Stiles!" he heard a voice shout, temporarily distracting him. His eyes turned brown again before he shook his head and felt them light up yellow. He continued to scrape towards the two people in front of him, his best friend and his girlfriend. His father was stood in the doorway, away from his wrath.

A body kneeled by the side of his still contained arm and called out his name softly. He was distracted again, looking at the shape next to him. It was Lydia.

"Lydia don't!" Scott shouted, triggering an impulse in Stiles that made him reach over to try and slash the red head. He couldn't reach; she was an inch too far away.

"Stiles, come back to us", her voice was as soft as butter, melting his heart. She shuffled closer to him… close enough to reach.

Stiles moved his arm across, his claws heading for her. She closed her eyes and just before his claws hit her, he clenched his fists. He could hear her heart beat, pumping viciously. Memories flooded him – things like them joking and laughing. Her smiling face filled his brain.

Stiles dropped his hand to the floor, leaning back against the wall in exhaustion. His breathing was heavy and sweat covered his face from the effort of breaking the chains but his eyes and teeth were human again. His dad, Scott and Malia stared open mouthed at him. Lydia had a huge look of relief written in her eyes as she smiled at him.


	5. Anchor

Lydia hadn't spoken to Stiles and he could smell tension between them – he could literally smell it. Malia was also pissed about something. She was sat on Deaton's table glaring at him and Scott was trying to explain something to her. Stiles got up and headed over to Malia and Scott, briefly looking at Lydia to see if she smiled, or anything. Nothing.

"Malia, you okay?" he asked cautiously, touching her arm with his fingertips. She smiled up at him and nodded.

Malia then stood up and left Deaton's clinic, calling something about going home and getting sleep. Stiles shot Scott a questioning look.

"She was pretty upset about Lydia being the one who turned you back… your anchor", Scott explained, sitting where Malia previously was, "I told her it was because she's a banshee and her voice is louder"

Stiles nodded, hoping that was what Scott believed too. He could feel his eyes still staring at him, forcing him to look at him again.

"Stiles, do you still like her?" Scott queried, his eyes filled with understanding that just made Stiles want to confess everything.

"I… yeah, I think so", Stiles felt like crying; not only did he feel terrible for Malia and lying to her, he and Lydia were best friends and he didn't want to ruin it.

"Then tell Malia, she deserves to know", Scott insisted, patting Stiles on the arm and then turning around and out of the clinic.

"Let's go home", his dad smiled from the doorway. Stiles had forgotten that he was still here.

"You go ahead", Stiles replied after noticing Lydia still sat in another corner of the room.

His father opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he noticed Lydia too. He nodded and turned out of the door. Stiles stood up and ambled over to Lydia. She glanced up at him with a smile but he could still smell tension.

"I'll take you home", he told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet.

"You don't have to, I'll be fine", she spoke quickly and ran her fingers through her hair awkwardly.

"I wasn't asking", Stiles cut in, smiling softly at her. She laughed and let him take her hand to lead her out of the vets.

Because they had no car, they walked to Lydia's house. The journey was too short for Stiles' liking and they came to her door in what felt like minutes.

"Thanks for walking me home", Lydia rocked on the balls of her feet nervously.

They both went in for a hug but caught at weird angles. They both laughed and tried to correct the angle, bumping each other's noses. They lingered inches from each other's face, breathing heavily. Now Stiles knew what the tension was - It wasn't angry, it was sexual.

The whole world slowed down as Stiles pressed his lips to her, forgetting about everything and everyone else in the world. Sparks started to light in his mind as his hands found her cheeks and hers wrapped around his torso. Suddenly, she pulled away like someone had scorched her with a hot iron.

"You shouldn't have done that!" she started to pace slightly without realizing it. His heart beat rapidly.

"Lydia…" he started to try and think up a good apology, one that would make her stay his friend.

"You're with Malia!" she yelled. He quickly felt awful; maybe he didn't like Malia in that way but he still cared about her. He had just been caught up in the moment.

He decided he was going to talk to Malia, tell her everything. He also had to tell Lydia how he felt about her. Sucking in a deep breath, he grabbed hold of Lydia's swaying arms as she paced and pulled her to a stop.

"Lydia… I can't keep this a secret anymore", he stared. She look at him with confusion filling her eyes, "I've already told you once that I have had a crush on you since the third freakin grade!" he told her a little louder than necessary.

"That was ages go, you stopped… you, you got with Malia…" she rambled, her eyes starting to brim with wet tears.

"I never stopped. I love you Lydia"

"No", she shook her head, a tear breaking away and dropping down her cheek.

"I love you Lydia Martin", he looked into her eyes, wiping the stray tear with his thumb, "I need to know how you feel about me too" he liked his lip as he waited for her reply.

"But we're friends…" she stared at him, more tears staring to drop. Stiles felt crushed. He nodded, wiping his nose with his arm and sniffing to stop himself from crying.

"Yeah", he turned and started to walk away.

"Stiles!" Lydia called after him. He turned, hope filling his heart again. "I'm sorry!" she cried, her face crumpled into a sobbing that almost made Stiles turn back and hug her, telling her it was okay – but it wasn't okay.

He spun around and practically ran down the road, desperate to get away from her. He stopped against a lamppost, clasping his chest to try and slow down his heart rate; it was still the full moon and his 'anchor' had just rejected him. He could feel the animal starting to come through which only made him panic more, his heart rate sky rocketing.

He managed to get himself to Scott's house in time, throwing himself against the door and pulling the key he had gotten made out of his pocket. He fumbled with the lock and then opened the door, feeling his teeth starting to come through against his tongue.

He slammed the door behind him, not looking to make sure it had closed, and sprinted up the stairs to Scott's bedroom. He fell onto the floor and roared involuntarily, jolting Scott awake.

"Stiles?" Scott squinted to get a better look at his friend, eyed widening in horror when he was met with the wolfed out face of his best friend. Stiles tried to pull it back but he couldn't. He felt the animal take over and then everything went black.


	6. Break up

Stiles felt a shoot of pain streak across his chest and he came back into reality, falling onto the floor and gripping his sore spot. When he pulled his hand away again, a small pool of blood was on it. He looked up and noticed Scott's terrified face gaping down at him, reminding him of what had just happened.

"What did I do?" Stiles roamed his eyes over the scratches along Scott's body and then over to the doorway where Melissa stood, tears streaking down her face. The sun was now shining through the window, a contrast to when Stiles had arrived here.

"You tried to kill me", Scott breathed out and relief filled his face – Stiles was no longer 'wolfed-out'

"I'm so sorry!" Stiles fell back against the chest of drawers behind him and ran his fingers through his hair. He noticed Scott glance over to his mother and she nodded, backing out of the room after glancing one more time at Stiles to make sure he was okay now.

"What happened, I thought you were okay now?" Scott knelt down on the floor in front of Stiles.

"I was until…"

"Until what?" Scott pushed genuine concern in his tone.

"I told Lydia!" Stiles shouted, ramming his fist against the floor and letting go of all of the frustration he felt. A large crack formed on the wood underneath his hand and he shot his best friend an apologetic look.

"It's okay, I'll just put a rug down or something", Scott smiled, trying to cheer him up. It worked a little bit – Stiles managed to crack a smile, which he wouldn't have been able to do a few minutes ago… or hours judging by the sun.

"What did she say?" Scott moved to lean against the drawers with Stiles, "What did _you_ say?"

"I didn't say anything", Stiles replied, sighing when he was met by a confused glare, "I kissed her…"

"You kissed her?" Scott raised his tone, clearly surprised that Stiles had the confidence to make a move like that.

"That's kind of the tone I was hoping to avoid", Stiles rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"No, maybe it was a good thing. You like her don't you?"

"She rejected me", Stiles laughed humourlessly, turning to look at Scott with a dull, tired expression.

"What did she say?" Scott smiled sympathetically.

"She said I shouldn't have done that, that I'm with Malia", Stiles started.

"That doesn't mean she rejected you, she's right. You _are_ with Malia and you still need to talk to her", Scott sat upright, a hint of hope in his voice – he had always wanted Stiles to confess his feelings for Lydia and 'just get with her' as he put it.

"I wasn't finished. I told her how I feel about her after that and she said 'but we're friends'", Stiles told him, mimicking her tone as he said her line.

Scott nodded in understanding at his friend and stood up, "I'm sorry dude but you can't give up hope. How do you know she isn't just trying to be good and stay faithful to Malia – she is in our pack", Scott suggested, "Do you want me to take you home, you need a shower", Scott gestured to the blood covered shirt that Stiles was wearing.

"No, but you can take me somewhere else", Stiles joined his friend in standing up, "Even if Lydia doesn't like me, I still need to tell Malia how I feel", he explained and Scott smiled and nodded.

Stiles waited patiently as Scott pulled his shirt over his head and replaced it with a fresh one. He couldn't help but notice that every single one of the scratches were healed. He looked down to his own scratch, it wasn't bleeding but it was still there – and very tender.

"It's because I'm an alpha", Scott explained, almost like he had read Stiles' mind, "It will take longer to heal", he added with his eyes filled with remorse for hurting his best friend. Stiles felt worse though.

Scott lent Stiles one of his jackets so that he could look more 'presentable' and they both got into the car. The journey over to Malia's was uncomfortably silent, but Stiles preferred it to what was about to come.

"Good luck", Stiles heard Scott mumble and he realized that they were outside Malia's house. He nodded his thanks and exited the car, walking over to the door without looking back.

He heard Scott drive away as he reached the door and the nerves started to really hit – he would probably have felt better if Scott had stayed in the drive way so that he knew he had an escape if needed. He sucked in a breath and pushed the bell, hearing the chime echo inside very clearly and making him jump; he still wasn't used to this werewolf hearing. The door swung open and Malia's surprised face was revealed.

"Stiles", she smiled but her voice had a hint of sadness. Did she know what he was coming to do? She looked down at his shirt and her eyes turned dark with worry, "What happened?"

Stiles quickly zipped up Scott's hoodie and shook his head, dismissing the question. Malia took the hint and instead gestured inside her house, inviting him in. He stepped inside without saying a word and sat patiently in her living room as she closed the door again. He sat on a chair and she sat on the sofa opposite him, her eyes filled with a knowing look.

"Malia, I have to tell you something", he twiddled his thumbs.

"I know", she replied. Stiles looked up at her, she had sad eyes but she was still smiling.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I can smell it Stiles. I have been able to since before we even got together, I knew this day would come soon" she explained, standing up and walking towards him. She took his hand in hers and looked into his eyes, "It didn't matter to me. That's why I never said anything"

Stiles pulled his hand away and swallowed hard, "Yeah well it matters to me", he told her, standing up, giving her arm an apologetic squeeze and walking towards the front door.

"Are you going after her?" Malia called out to him. He winced and turned to face her again.

"No… no she doesn't feel the same way", he told her, forcing himself to smile even though he felt like bursting into tears.

"She does. Maybe you can't see it but she does", Malia claimed.

"No she made it pretty clear she doesn't", Stiles gave her another weak smile and then started to walk towards the front door again.

"Maybe she doesn't see it yet either, but she does Stiles. You shouldn't give up", Malia persisted, trying to convince him.

He couldn't help but laugh slightly at how his ex-girlfriend was trying to get him to keep trying with another girl. He gave her a grateful nod and then finally walked out of her house.

He tried to dial Lydia on his cell. It rang a few times and then went into voicemail – she was dodging his calls.


	7. Pack Meeting

Stiles had tried multiple times on different occasions to get through to Lydia; if Scott was right about her then she should know that he had told Malia. Every single time he dialled her number it did the same thing – rang a couple of times and then ended.

Stiles was now sat in a café with Scott and Malia, Allison was over at Lydia's trying to slyly get answers for him. He swirled the foam on his coffee around the cup with his fingers, pretending to listen to Scott and Malia telling him that it would be okay.

Stiles' phone buzzed in the middle of the table and he rapidly reached for it, almost knocking his drink over in rush. He pushed the phone to his ear.

"Allison what happened?" he stammered. The phone rang in his ear drum and he flinched – he had forgotten to press the answer button. Embarrassed, he pressed the button and put the phone back to his ear, not looking at the two giggling friends in front of him. Allison was the first to speak.

"Stiles I couldn't get anything out of her, she avoided literally every single one of the questions about you", she told him, her voice apologetic.

"Its fine, thanks", he answered her quickly and then hung up the phone and stood up from his seat, leaving his friends at the table as he headed out of the café.

He knew that he was being childish but he didn't care right now; Lydia avoiding his calls and any mention of him was enough to tell him she didn't want anything to do with him. He had never thought he would regret kissing Lydia Martin but he did. He regretted it a lot.

He went straight home and turned his phone off – his heart rate was speeding up and he knew talking about Lydia would make it worse.

Stiles alone at the kitchen table eating dinner – his dad had a late shift at the station tonight so he was all alone.

It had now been two weeks since him and Lydia had spoken to each other and it was killing him inside, he had barely slept. On the plus side, Scott had taught him how to use himself as an anchor instead of her but it was a whole lot harder and made full moon's hurt worse.

Stiles felt his phone buzzing inside his pocket and he pulled it out to see who was calling, ever hopeful that Lydia had finally changed her mind. Scott's name flashed on his screen and, although he felt bad about it, he was disappointed. He answered the call and half-heartedly held the phone against his ear.

"Hey Scott", Stiles smiled fakely even though he knew Scott couldn't see it.

"Stiles get over to my house as soon as you can", Scott sounded stressed and it made Stiles panic.

"Why, dude what happened?"

"I'll explain when you get here, just come", Scott hung up the phone and Stiles was left confused and worried.

Stiles grabbed his shoes and pulled them onto his feet and then picking up the keys to his Jeep. He had learnt by now that when Scott told him that he had to urgently go somewhere, it was usually because of something bad.

Stiles drove over to Scott's drive and headed towards the front door, taking the key out of his pocket as he walked to save time. He noticed Allison and Kira's cars outside… and also Lydia's. He momentarily hovered outside the door, the key inches from the lock as he prepared himself for seeing Lydia for the first time in weeks.

He quickly took a sharp breath and then entered the McCall residence. It wasn't until he passed the mirror in Scott's house that he realised how he looked. There were huge dark circles around his eyes from the lack of sleep and he was pale – why couldn't werewolves heal their sleep pattern?

Telling himself that there was an emergency at hand, he continued his path into Scott's kitchen where he could hear everyone talking. They all looked at him as he walked in and their mouths opened in shock… even Lydia's.

"Whoa dude, you're looking really tired", Scott told him, alarm sounding in his tone of voice. He noticed Lydia staring but she quickly turned away when he caught her.

"I'm fine. Just had a few rough night's sleep", Stiles explained, stepping into the group circle to become a part of the conversation – or lack of. They were all still staring at him.

"Stiles, what's wrong?" Scott pushed.

"Scott I said I'm fine!" Stiles yelled. He immediately felt bad when he saw Scott flinch and Lydia stepped backwards. He stayed silent for a few seconds before talking again, "Why did you call us over?" he asked his voice lower and calmer now.

"There's been a chain of murders", Allison explained, taking over from Scott who was still looking at Stiles with concerned eyed. Stiles pretended not to notice.

"Okay, why us though. Why doesn't someone like Stiles' dad sort it out?" Malia chipped in, the group already forgetting about Stiles' outburst as they got deeper into the topic.

"Because it was a werewolf?" Stiles asked.

"No", Lydia retorted with a hint of aggression, "I wouldn't exactly call having no blood left a werewolf move"

"Yeah well I didn't know that, did I?" Stiles answered back, becoming irritated. He had no idea why Lydia was being so off with him. She scowled at him and he returned it.

"Okay, we don't know what did it but that's what we are here to figure out", Scott cut in before an argument broke out between the two, "Allison's going to check the 'Beastiary' for any clues as to what might have done this", he handed Stiles a piece of paper with a photo of a guy on it. He was completely white, like something had sucked out everything he had.

"Malia and I are going to go over to Deaton's and ask him. Kira's at the station searching the files with your dad to see if we missed anything", Scott filled him in; he had obviously been late to the pack meeting and they had started without him.

"I'll look online", Stiles offered, starting to walk over towards Scott's bedroom where the computer was.

"I got that covered actually", Lydia asserted coldly, stepping in front of him to stop him from entering Scott's room.

"Actually you both are, we need both of the brains doing that job. Maybe one person can find something the other can't", Scott called over to them.

Lydia sighed and stepped back to let him into the bedroom. Stiles felt something in his chest snap; why was she so angry at him?


	8. Esprit Ourdissor

Stiles felt incredibly uncomfortable as he sat silently next to Lydia while she searched the internet for anything to do with creatures sucking out blood. He could smell the anger radiating out of her body.

She growled in frustration as the web page she was reading ended up being another dead end. He had an idea of what to search but he felt awkward and scared to mention it, just in case she had a 'Lydia meltdown' at him.

"What?" she muttered sharply, making him jump.

"What, what?" he replied, wincing at her irritated glare.

"You obviously have something to say, so say it!" she had aggression in her tone and her arms were folded over her chest.

"I just… try adding the word creatures onto the end of your search", he offered. She agitatedly gestured over to the keyboard and sat back. "Oh, no I didn't mean to…"

"Stiles just do it!" she shouted, again causing him to jump. He quickly grabbed the mouse and keyboard and started on his search but the scent of anger was distracting him.

"Okay, Lydia I can't do this anymore… why are you so mad at me?" he turned to face her, determined to get an explanation.

"You know exactly why!" she scoffed, laughing humourlessly at his lack of understanding.

"Look, I'm sorry I kissed you!" he shouted, "If I had known this is where it would lead then I wouldn't have!"

"It's not because you kissed me!" she looked at him like he was stupid but he was dumbfounded.

"Then why?"

"Because you have been ignoring me for weeks!" she yelled, her eyes starting to brim with tears. She blinked them back quickly, obviously not wanting to show signs of weakness.

"Lydia I tried calling you so many times, you never answer!" he explained.

"I never got any calls!" she exclaimed.

"Lydia, ask Scott if you don't believe me… I tried to call you when I was out with him and Kira a couple of nights ago"

"Don't try lying to me Stiles, I called Scott and he told me you haven't left your house, he said this would be the first time you've actually stepped outside in weeks!" she obviously felt betrayed that Stiles would lie to her like that – but he hadn't lied.

"Okay I can prove it!" he dived into his pocket and pulled out his phone, going into his call log to find all of the missed calls to her but they were all gone. He flicked down through all of the missed calls but Lydia's name wasn't anywhere to be seen.

He heard her phone start to buzz and then her voice answering it but he didn't look up from his phone; it made no sense, they should be right there. He heard Scott's voice telling Lydia to get Stiles to listen in on the conversation and he nodded at her to show that he already was.

"We know what they are and they don't drink blood", Scott told them.

"But then what about that picture?" Lydia asked.

"That's what made Deaton realise what it is… Kira called us and told us that the report says he still has his blood", Scott explained, "The Argents call them 'esprit ourdissor', it means mind warper"

"Why that name?" Stiles cut in and Lydia transferred the message to Scott.

"I'm getting to that. Come over to Deaton's and we'll explain everything", he told them and then hung up the phone so that they couldn't argue.

Stiles followed Lydia back into the living room of Scott's house, where Allison sat reading the Beastiary. Lydia explained everything to her and then they all got into Allison's car and headed over to the animal clinic.

Once they had arrived, they all went into the operating room to meet Scott and Deaton. Kira and Malia were already in there with them. Scott didn't waste any time in explaining as soon as they all were in the room.

"These creatures eat peoples soles, that's why he looked like that in the picture", he told them, gesturing to the photo he was talking about which was laid out on the table.

"Okay? I always thought your sole was like, not an actual thing" Stiles cut in, earning a glare from Scott for interrupting his story. "Sorry", he raised his hands up to apologise and tell him to continue.

"Yeah well it is", Scott told him, "Anyway, these things are knows as the 'mind warpers' because they get into your head. They make you think you're doing something so that you will stay still and willingly let them slowly suck out your sole"

Stiles immediately felt his heart drop to the ground and a glance from Lydia told him that she was thinking the same thing – he was definite that he had tried to call Lydia multiple times, but there was no evidence of it in his call history. He was definite that he had hung out with Scott, but Lydia said that Scott had told her he hadn't left the house in weeks. He was also extremely pale…


	9. Plan

Stiles could feel Lydia staring at him but he avoided looking back at her. He briefly listened to the rest of Scott's explanation but he couldn't focus; what if one of these things had gotten to him? All of the details fit perfectly.

"Stiles, what's wrong?" Scott asked, snapping him out of his mind and back into reality. He noticed Lydia's concerned look but he ignored it.

"Yeah, dude I'm just thinking about it", he lied, hoping that Scott wasn't listening to his heart rate (which was probably sky rocketing right now).

Scott seemed to believe him and went back to the discussion. Stiles slipped out of the room unnoticed and leant against the wall in the hallway, breathing heavily. He could feel his stress levels rising, which was bad for a werewolf, and he tried to pull it back.

"Stiles", Lydia touched his shoulder, making him jump. He looked at her face and he immediately felt calm again – she really was his anchor.

"Yeah?" he replied breathlessly, trying to seem calm.

"You really did think you called me, didn't you?" she questioned, staring into his eyes. He nodded and looked down to the floor. "And going out with Scott? That seemed real too?"

Stiles nodded quickly and shuffled his feet along the floor, knowing exactly what Lydia was thinking. She leant against the wall and he noticed her glancing into the room where the others were still discussing.

"We have to tell them", she finally spoke. Stiles closed his eyes and leant back against the wall, groaning.

"Please don't. Lydia, Scott already worries about me too much", he pleaded. She pulled an exasperated expression.

"There's reason to be worried!" she whispered harshly – she was arguing with him but still complying, trying not to let the others hear her.

"We don't know that for sure", he tried to convince her. She rolled her eyes at him and started to walk back into the room. Stiles grabbed her wrist and pulled her to face him again, "Lydia, please don't"

She sighed and gave him a worried look. She thought for a moment before coming out with a condition, "Only if you tell Scott. You don't have to tell the others but tell him!"

Stiles agreed even though telling Scott was the thing he wanted to avoid the most but she was right, he should know that his best friend could dying. They both walked back into the room and Stiles noticed that Kira, Malia and Allison were all gone. Scott was sat on the table but he stood up when he saw them both coming into the room. Deaton was also gone.

"There you guys are! I told the others to leave but I wanted to make sure you two were both okay", he lingered his eyes on Stiles for a few seconds; he was obviously worried about him, "Where did you go?"

"I need to tell you something", Stiles muttered. Lydia intertwined her fingers with his, trying to encourage him but she was just making it worse – now he had the girl he is in love with holding his hand while he tried to tell Scott he could be slowly getting killed…

"What is it?" Scott stared at him, his face overcome with concern.

"I think… I…" he tried to make the words come out but he couldn't focus on anything but Lydia's hand around his. She immediately let go as if sensing the feeling but she stayed standing close to him.

"Stiles, what happened?" Scott pushed and Stiles felt bad for leaving his friend hanging like that, he hated it when Scott did that to him.

"Stiles thinks he might be experiencing the esprit", Lydia explained to Scott who furrowed his eyebrows, taking in the piece of information. Stiles shot Lydia a thankful glance; now he wouldn't have to find the words to tell Scott himself.

"Stiles... why, what happened, are you sure?" Scott rambled, breathing in and out heavily as he panicked.

"Yeah, I think it must have been happening these last few weeks", Stiles cleared his throat as he tried to remain strong. The truth was he was anything but strong right now.

"The weeks you didn't come out of your house?" Scott asked, worry pouring out of his words and expressions.

"I thought I did. I thought I came out with you", Stiles told him, wishing that Lydia would hold his hand again; he could really use the comfort at this point.

"He also thought he called me but I didn't get anything", Lydia added. Scott processed everything and eventually nodded slowly: This usually meant that he had formed a plan that he thought would work.

"Lydia, take Stiles home and stay with him until I call you. I'm going to get Allison and then go back to Deaton, maybe we can find something in the Beastiary that will help. I'll run so that my car is here for you to use", Scott was already rushing out of the door as she spoke. Lydia nodded at him and then Scott was gone.

"Do you want me to take you to your house or is mine okay?" Lydia queried as she grabbed Scott's keys off the table.

"Uh, wherevers easier I guess", he replied, "My Dad's not home", he added and then immediately regretted it; now it sounded like he was trying something with her. "That's not what I meant", he quickly tried to explain.

"I know Stiles", she smiled softly at him, "Let's go to yours then"

She stepped towards the door and Stiles tried to follow. A sudden tired feeling rushed across him and his legs gave out, causing him to fall to the ground. He quickly realized that Lydia had done the same thing but she quickly stood up again and rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?" she pulled him onto his feet again and wrapped his arm over her shoulder.

"I don't know what happened, my legs just gave out", he informed her. He tried to regain balance but his legs were weak and he couldn't walk on his own.

"Yeah I got the same feeling", she responded as she took his weight and started to help him towards the door.

Stiles knew she was thinking the same thing as him but she wasn't going to say anything so he didn't mention it – this was most likely her banshee powers kicking in… she was having a premonition.


	10. Home

Lydia drove Stiles home and helped him inside without saying a single word. She got him to the sofa, sitting him down and then shuffling her feet along the floor and awkwardly looking around the room as if trying to figure out what to do next.

"You know what's funny?" Stiles broke the silence and Lydia looked thankful that there was something to break the awkwardness.

"What?" she smiled gently, looking straight into his eyes and making him almost forget what he was about to say.

"I didn't want to tell Scott because I didn't want everyone else knowing and now, he's gone to get Allison, Deaton… probably the others too", he breathed out a small laugh and sat back against the sofa.

"But it's to protect you Stiles, we all want to help you", she slumped down next to him. Despite the whole cushion spare, she squished herself onto the same one as him and pressed herself against him.

"You okay?" he wrapped his arm around her shoulder without even realizing it until she leant her head on his chest.

"You don't have to worry about me", she whispered, her voice husky – she was tired and her eyes were starting to drift closed. She cleared her throat and pushed herself away from him, "I'm just going to go to the bathroom quickly" she informed him as she left the room.

Stiles closed his eyes for a few seconds before he heard a bang coming from the hallway. He forced himself to hit feet and stepped towards the sound, into the hall and rounded the corner. A large man was stood in the middle of the hall, red eyes and large fangs protruding from his mouth. Lydia lay next to him on the floor with blood seeping around her.

Stiles felt the anger rage through him and he let out a loud, menacing roar. He forced his claws out of his fingertips and pushed his own fangs out of his mouth. He quickly sprinted towards the beast and threw him against the wall, pinning his hands against it so that he couldn't fight back. He dug his claws into the man's wrists without meaning to as he roared again, this time next to his face. He spread one of his clawed hands behind him in order to gather more force ready to slash the monster.

"Stiles what are you doing?" a high pitched voice screamed. Stiles froze; the voice was coming from the guy in front of him. His vision went blurry and he suddenly felt incredibly weak as he stepped backwards, away from his victim. When his sight cleared again and he looked at the beast, it was no longer a beast. Lydia stood against the wall holding onto her bleeding wrists with a terrified look on her face.

"Lydia?" Stiles opened his mouth wide in shock. "I'm so sorry, I didn't… Lydia I'm so sorry", he quickly came to the realisation that the Esprit was messing with him again.

"What were you doing?" she asked, her voice coming out as a whisper and tears dripping down her cheeks.

"I thought… there was this alpha… I thought that… you were on the floor… I was", he stuttered as he tried to come out with an explanation that would explain what he had thought he was doing.

"It was the Esprit, wasn't it?" her voice came out clearer and she was surer of herself now that she knew that Stiles wasn't purposely trying to hurt her.

Stiles nodded slowly a few times before making eye contact with her, "I think so" he answered. His whole body was shaking and his skin felt achy and numb at the same time. Her eyes roamed over him with her facial expression showing more worry than Scott had had in the animal clinic. He gripped the doorframe next to him and used it to pull himself off the floor – which was a lot harder than it should have been.

He quickly found the nearest mirror and almost fell over at how bad he looked. His whole face was the colour of fresh snow and looked like there was no blood left in it, just like the picture Scott had showed them. The only part of his face with colour was the skin around his eyes, which were black and purple as if he hadn't slept in years. He looked like a demon in a horror movie.

"I look like I'm dying", he muttered under his breath to himself but Lydia must have heard him because she stepped towards him and said, "I'm not entirely sure you aren't really dead". Her face showed instant regret at her comment and Stiles rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm going to call Scott, see if he's found out anything yet", she pulled her phone out of her pocket and found Scott's name on her contacts list. Stiles focused his hearing onto the dialling rings but it was harder than normal; everything he did felt like he was running a marathon right now.

"Lydia is everything okay?" Scott's concerned voice sounded through the speaker phone.

"Not really, it happened again. I only left for like two seconds to use the bathroom and Stiles suddenly came sprinting at me and pinned me against the wall and then…"

"What, are you okay?" Scott interrupted. Stiles could practically hear his heart beat speeding up through the phone.

"I'm okay it stopped, I'll put Stiles on", she waited for Scott to agree and then handed Stiles her phone. Stiles lifted it to his ear but his whole shoulder ached at the effort.

"Hey", he said to tell Scott that he now had the phone.

"Stiles, what's happening?" Scott pushed immediately, wanting the details to Stiles' outbreak.

"Scott this is getting worse. I'm no longer just having visions, I'm having ones where I'm actually doing the things in them… but to someone else", he glanced over at Lydia with apologetic eyes and she quickly looked away. "What did you find out?" he asked, desperate for answers.

"We found out a little bit more. The Esprit is a shape-shifter that feeds on souls. Once connected to a host, they can reach them from up to 2 miles away and give them visions", he informed him, his voice making it clear that he was reading it out of the Beastiary.

"Okay, does it say anything about how to stop it?" Stiles crossed his fingers hopefully.

"Yeah… you have to kill the shape-shifter", Scott told him dismally. Killing this thing would mean breaking Scott's sacred rules. "Stiles it's okay, we have too", Scott sighed as if he had just read Stiles' mind.

"If we can find it", Stiles ran his fingers through his hair and pretending he didn't see Lydia's questioning look.

"That's not the only thing…" Scott cleared his throat.

"What?" Stiles asked seriously. Lydia continued to shoot him more vicious questioning looks but he batted them away.

"If you kill someone… the esprit can take their soul too", Scott explained slowly as if wanting to make sure that Stiles absorbed the new piece of information and he did.

"That's why I had that vision… it wanted me to kill Lydia"


	11. Second Victim

_Sorry I haven't updated in a while, my internet has been out :( I hope you like this chapter! Thank you for reading, please leave a review telling me what you think. It would be much appriciated :D_

Stiles stayed in his house for a week with constant monitoring from Melissa and Deaton. He hadn't had another vision since the one with Lydia, but either Scott or Lydia were always there watching him to make sure.

Stiles sat on the sofa waiting for Deatons prognosis for the day. Lydia was sat behind Deaton and Stiles could see that she was pretending to type on her phone while she watched.

"You look considerably better today", The veterinarian told him, "You aren't as pale and your heart rate is improving. How do you feel physically? Are you feeling stronger?"

"Yeah, I can walk fully now without feeling weak or falling down", he admitted happily; he hoped that he was going to be okay now.

"Does that mean it's gone?" Lydia asked, referring to the Mind Warper. Stiles glanced between her and Deaton, waiting for his answer eagerly.

"Not necessarily. The Esprit could simply be waiting your soul to replenish - if you die, it will need to find a new host. That would take effort to connect to their minds like it has with yours, that's how it gives you visions", Deaton looked back and forth between Stiles and Lydia as he spoke, explaining it to them both.

"Great so I'm like a human happy meal", Stiles retorted sarcastically. Lydia walked over to the sofa and sat next to Stiles. She took his hand in hers, a remorseful look in her eyes.

"You're going to be okay, Scott's out right now looking for more information", She tried to console him and he smiled gratefully at her, even though it wasn't calming him down.

Deaton left as Melissa showed up after her shift at the hospital was finished. Lydia still stayed with him. Melissa greeted them, checked that Stiles looked and felt okay and then went into the kitchen to make dinner for them. It was weird having Scotts mom in his house making food for him when he had already said that he felt fine but he didn't complain. Stiles felt Lydia's head press against his shoulder and he looked to see that she had fallen asleep. He smiled down at her and then closed his eyes and leant back. It didn't take him long to drift off to sleep and then it felt like seconds before Melissa woke him up telling him that dinner was ready. Lydia was gone when he woke up so he figured it must have been a while. He sat at the table and Melissa sat opposite him. They both ate In awkward silence and Stiles started at his plate the whole time to avoid eye contact.

The sound of Melissa's fork scraping along the plate disappeared, making Stiles look up to see what was wrong. She had completely disappeared and instead, a large creature was perched on the end of the table staring at him. Large fangs were protruding out of its mouth and it was snarling at him. Without thinking, Stiles growled back and let his wolf features grow on his his body. Just as he was about to leap onto the table, it suddenly occurred to him that it could be the wind Warper again. Maybe it had finally come back to start munching on his soul again.

Suddenly, Stiles jolted awake and realised he was stood in front of the table. Lydia was pressed against the wall in fear and Melissa was not far behind her. Stiles quickly pulled his fangs and claws away to show Lydia he meant no harm and stepped towards her. He almost fell over at the effort, confirming his thoughts about the Esprit coming back. She breathed a sigh of relief and jumped into his arms, wrapping her own around him tightly and pulling him close to her. He was stunned for a few seconds. When he finally came back to reality, he returned her embrace. Melissa quietly slid back into the kitchen, smiling at how her son's best friend (who was like another son to her) was so shocked at the action he was getting from his crush.

Lydia eventually pulled away again and wiped a tear that had dripped onto her nose, "You scared me, you looked so ill when you were stood there... You look ill _now_ ", her voice cracked and wavered - she must have been really freaked out.

"Sorry", he smiled at her to show that he was okay, even though he felt far from it and she pressed herself closer to him.

Stiles and Lydia lay on the sofa chatting for a while, trying to take him mind off of everything and keep them _both_ awake. He was so close to bringing up his feelings for her but he decided against it; the last time he did that it didn't end very well for him.

 ** _Three weeks later_**

The routine for Stiles carried on the same except Lydia was constantly there now. The hallucinations were following a pattern of four days on and then three days off, giving his soul 'time to replenish' but not quite enough time for him to recover physically… or emotionally. He was now on his second day off but Deaton and Melissa always ran tests just to be sure.

Lydia gripped hold of Stiles' hand as Melissa drew blood from his arm – she acted like she was doing it for him but he knew it was actually for her. She knew he was weak already and that taking blood was making him feel worse and she hated it. Stiles squeezed her hand back and then sat back in his chair. She was smiling and always telling him that he would be okay and that they were going to figure this out. He hadn't told her this yet, but he had noticed yesterday that he no longer had super strength. He had no exquisite smell and no amazing hearing. He was losing his powers.

Lydia's casual smile fell off her face as she glanced behind Stiles' head. He turned around to see Scott standing in the kitchen doorway with the same expression he had when he had first found out that the Esprit had latched onto him.

"Scott, what's wrong? What happened?" Stiles stood up, using the table to take his weight and not fall over.

"You're getting worse, Stiles sit down", he replied, gliding across the tiled floor and gently pushing Stiles back into the kitchen chair.

"I'm fine", he smiled softly but Scott still looked worried. Stiles shot him a questioning look and Scott sighed and closed his eyes. Stiles desperately tried to listen to his heart beat for any indicator but he couldn't muster any power – he was still too weak.

"There's another one", Scott finally spoke. He opened his eyes again before continuing, "The Esprit has another victim"

"How do you know it's the same Esprit?" Stiles pondered as he remembered something he had read in the Beastiary, "I read that the Esprit only chooses one victim"

"There is only one Mind Warper. There has only been one in all of history, the same one", Scott's face turned dark and Stiles stayed silent, knowing bad news was about to follow. "The Mind Warper _will_ only choose one victim. It'll eat most of their soul, wait until it replenishes and then continue"

"That's what it's been doing to Stiles… why does it have a new victim?" Lydia piped in, a mix of worry and confusion in her tone.

"That's what I came here to tell you guys… sooner or later the soul replenishes one too many times and the Esprit doesn't like the taste anymore and moves on", Scott swallowed thickly but remained calm, "This shape-shifter has been around long enough to know exactly when that will be and had figured out when to fully drain the soul while it's still good… it prepares another victim ready for when it's first one dies out"

"Wait so it's going to drain me?" Stiles yelled. His heart beat started to speed up dramatically and panic filled him. He noticed Lydia's chest rapidly rising up and down too but she didn't say anything. "You seem awfully calm about it Scott!" he scoffed. He didn't mean to be angry with him and he knew that inside he was probably terrified but it was his way of coping right now.

"Stiles, we have a plan", Scott had a hint of proudness in his tone which, in some weird way, comforted Stiles a little bit.

"Which is?" Melissa called across the room, stepping forward to be a part of the group and finally joining in with the conversation.

"I told you that it has to be within two miles to give hallucinations, right?" Scott gestured randomly with his hands – something he always does when he's explaining something.

"Yeah but you also said that they only do that to keep you still, what if next time he just goes and sucks it out to get it over with", Stiles stated bluntly. He noticed Lydia looking slightly hurt in the corner of his eye, making him regret being so blunt about dying for her sake.

"That's what Deaton told me. Kira and I were looking in the Beastiary and we found out that he was wrong; the visions are how it draws the soul out. It needs the visions", Scott had a ghost of a smile on his lips which made Stiles eager to hear the plan.

"If we go somewhere simple and have people posted everywhere within a 2 mile radius, we can catch it", the room went silent for a few seconds while everyone processed and thought the plan through.

"Where would we go?" Lydia's voice sounded. It filled Stiles with hope that she was talking again because it meant she thought that the plan would probably work.

"There's this field that Malia said she used to run through when she was a coyote. It's nothing but a square of empty grass for 5 miles all round it. If you sit in the middle of it and we have the pack spread out then…"

"We can see the Esprit", Stiles cut in, nodding in approval at the plan.

"No… we can catch it", Scott grinned. Stiles looked from him to Lydia and for the first time in over a month, they all had a genuine smile.


	12. Derek

Stiles shivered as he sat in the middle of an icy field but it wasn't because he was cold – he was scared for his friends; they had no idea what this thing looked like or what it was capable of. He didn't either.

They had called the whole pack, even ones they hadn't seen in ages. Of course there was Scott, Allison, Kira, Lydia and Malia. Derek had come back to help save Stiles and so had Isaac and Liam had taken the day off school.

Scott and Derek were the furthest away from him, both either side of him at the 2 mile marker. Kira was 1 mile away from him and so was Isaac and then the rest were dotted around in between them. Lydia however, stayed directly by Stiles' side.

"We've been here two hours and _nothing's_ happening", Stiles sighed in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair.

"You're in a hurry to die then", Lydia replied, staring out into the field at the others. She meant it as a joke but he could tell she was still a bit annoyed.

"I just hate waiting like this", he flew his hand to his mouth to muffle a cries of pain as a shooting pain radiated around his body. Lately his whole body had been constantly aching but every so often, it got worse.

Lydia opened her mouth to say something else but she stopped suddenly. Her eyes were wide with fear and her breathing had become rapid and uneven. She quickly roamed her eyes over the field, looking for something.

"Lydia, what's wrong?" Stiles gently grabbed her hand and she turned to him. He could now see tears rolling down her cheeks and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. This can't have been about what he said could it?

"We need to go now!" she shouted loud enough for the rest of the pack to hear her. They all looked over to her, their faces crumpled with worry; she was the Banshee so when she said they needed to go, they needed to go.

Scott started to run back towards them and the others followed suit. Lydia was counting everybody with her fingers and ignoring everybody's questions. Stiles stayed quiet, knowing that she was trying to concentrate. She counted twice, her face making it obvious that there wasn't the right amount of people standing in front of her.

"Where's Derek?" Lydia cried out. As if on cue, a loud roar erupted from behind them. Stiles spun around to see Derek fighting with a creature of nightmares. It had a large head with black, sunken eyes. Its mouth covered the whole bottom half of its face and there were no lips, only teeth. It was constantly crouched, its feet and hands were nothing but three toes with large claws on them. One of the claws made its way into Derek and he howled in pain.

Stiles pushed himself off the ground and sprinted over to the scene. He could hear Lydia shouting out to him and footsteps from multiple people behind him but he didn't stop. The adrenaline made him forget all about how weak he was and he even managed to push his own claws out. He slid on the floor into a predatory stance, closed his eyes and roared as loud as he could until his lungs had no air left and he collapsed onto the ground.

He felt Scott's hands grab hold of his arms and pull him to his feet but he didn't stop to make sure he was okay. He ran straight over to Derek, who was lying on the ground gripping his wound with his hands. A small puddle of blood was forming underneath him. The Esprit had fled the scene and left Derek injured. Stiles could hear nothing but his own breath as he slowly stepped towards them. Liam ran past him and then Allison and Kira. Malia was quickly there afterwards, crying – Stiles had almost forgotten that they were family. Stiles pushed his way to the front of the crowd around Derek and dropped to his knees. Derek looked at him and smiled softly.

"I'm okay", he assured him but Stiles didn't need to be able to listen to his heart beat to know that he was lying. He wasn't healing and the wound had a blue-ish smoke coming from it (most likely poison). He then turned to Scott and looked at him with a serious expression, "Hey… save him" he didn't make any gestures to what he meant but it was clear that he was taking about Stiles.

"I will", Scott promised, gripping Derek's hand. Black veins streaked along his arm as he took his pain and Derek took a large, contented breath in but he didn't release it again.

The shock wavered through Stiles as Derek's eyed drifted closed and Malia's sobs shook the air. He barely noticed Kira pulling Malia away and into her arms and he could barely hear Liam comforting Scott.

His bottom lip quivered and a huge lump formed in his throat. "I'm sorry", he whispered as he let a tear roll down his cheek. A gentle hand rested on his shoulder and he could tell that it was Lydia. She dropped down to her knees next to him.

"Stiles…" she started but she had no idea what to say to him. There was no point in telling him that it wasn't his fault because it was; the Mind Warper had come for him but had taken Derek's life instead. Stiles threw himself into Lydia, wrapping his arms around her and sobbing. She was stunned for a few seconds but she soon returned the hug, letting a few of her own tears fall.

Through most of the 'pack meetings', Derek and Stiles were always at each other's throats and constantly disagreeing. If you didn't know them, you would think they hated each other's guts but you would be wrong. You would be seriously wrong. Their 'arguments' were just how their friendship worked and since Scott had been bitten, their relationship had bloomed into a great friendship… now Derek was dead and Stiles blamed nobody but himself.

 _I'm so sorry! Don't kill me. I did a name generator to see which unlucky pack member would die and Derek was the unfortunate one :( Please leave a review telling me what you think of this story :)_


	13. Scream

Eventually Stiles and Lydia broke apart. He noticed that Isaac had finally come over to join them and that he was also crying. Now it was Scott's turn to be comforting. Lydia was holding tightly onto Stiles' hand but she was looking at everybody else. He did the same, watching the grieving that he felt live through his pack too. Cora, Derek's sister, had once told him that losing a member of your pack wasn't like losing family: it was like losing a limb. She was right.

As he glanced around he noticed movement coming from behind everyone. Craning his neck to get a better look, Stiles could see a young girl stood on the edge of the field leading in to the woods. She smiled broadly at him and then disappeared into the trees.

Stiles slipped his hand out of Lydia's but she didn't realize; she was still sucked into the scene that had just unfolded in front of her. He stumbled over to where he had just seen the girl and towards the woods. Nobody even noticed him go. Once he passed the first few trees he looked around for any signs of her. He saw her waiting for him at a tree in the distance but as he stepped closer to her, she continued to walk away from him.

Stiles kept a quicker pace so that he wouldn't lose sight of her again as she followed her deep into the forest. He was so focused on not losing where she was headed that he didn't bother to try and remember the way back to his friends. Like always, curiosity had gotten the better of him.

The girl stepped out of his view as she rounded a corner and he sped up to regain it. He was now in an empty clearing and there was no sign of her anywhere. Deciding that either she was long gone or he had imagined it, he turned around to try and find his way back. She was now stood right in front of him.

"Whoa", he stepped backwards so that he wouldn't bump into her and then studied her face to see if he knew her. He didn't recognise her. "I'm Stiles", he lifted his hand in the air in a small wave and then dropped it by his side again. She remained silent with a small, but creepy, smile on her lips. Deciding he would have rather stayed with his pack, he started to slowly inch away from her, "Well this has been fun but I have to get back. Nice to meet you", he rambled as he headed back in the direction he had come from.

In seconds the girl was on top of him, taking him by surprise and knocking the wind out of his body as he fell to the ground with a thud. He took in a deep breath but found that it was suddenly profoundly difficult to take in any air. The girl's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her face was filled with pleasure. He pieced it together quickly – this was no girl. It was a vision.

The Esprit had led him away from his friends so that they couldn't save him and it was now 'finishing his soul'. He was overcome with the feeling of stupidity for following a random girl into the middle of the woods while someone wanted to kill him.

His eyesight blurred as he continued to fight for a breath. He desperately tried to fight the thing off of him but he was too weak. His body felt the same as it had on his first day back in Beacon Hills. The day the car crashed and Scott had no choice but to bite him. He was going to die here. He tried one more time to fight and then his vision went dark.

Lydia watched everyone try to comfort each other, even though they were hurting too. She turned back to Stiles, who she imagined was hurting the most right now, but he was gone. She roamed her eyes around looking for him but he was nowhere to be seen. Panic rose in her lungs as she stood up to and glanced around the field. He was gone.

She suddenly found it difficult to breath, catching the attention of a few people around her. Scott stood up too and held onto her arms.

"Lydia, what's wrong?" he asked her. The air returned to her lungs and she gasped in, enjoying the sensation. Without trying, she started to run into the woods. She had no idea where she was going but something was drawing her there.

Scott was following her, calling after her to stop but she continued to run. All she knew was that Stiles wasn't in the field anymore and she had a bad feeling about it. She rounded a tree and came into a small clearing. The thing they had seen in the field. The thing that had killed Derek, was sitting on top of something. She stepped forwards and came to the realisation that it was Stiles underneath it.

His face was paler than she had ever seen it, just like in the pictures and she started to panic more; he looked dead. She felt an incredible rage towards the creature and she mustered every ounce of power she had, releasing it in a powerful scream.

Scott dropped to the floor next to her, covering his ears so she quickly stopped screaming; she didn't want to kill anyone else. The creature still sat on top of Stiles, like it hadn't even been affected by her scream. Angry tears formed in her eyes but they receded when she noticed a stream of blood exiting the Esprit's ear. Scott, now realising it was safe to take his hands away from his head, sprinted towards the creature and kicked it away from his best friend.

Lydia followed behind him, ready to help take on the creature but they both were brought to a stop. The thing was already dead. The whole right side of its head was gone – they hadn't noticed before because they were on the wrong side of it. Lydia dropped to her knees next to Stiles and cupped his face in her hands.

"Stiles", she breathed out, gently shaking his face. He didn't make any response, "Stiles?" she spoke louder with more worry. She glanced up at Scott who had the same expression she did and then she returned her attention to Stiles. "Stiles" she tapped slightly on his face to try and wake him. He continued to lie completely still, "Stiles, come on", she felt tears prickled her eyes, "No, no, no, no, no, come on Stiles wake up!" she begged, "Come on wake up, can you hear me, Stiles?" she could feel Scott watching helplessly as she pleaded with the motionless body, "Stiles open your eyes. Come on, come on… come on listen to me Stiles", she whispered, "Stiles just open your eyes okay, Stiles you have to open your eyes. I love you okay, I said it!" she shook his head slightly harder, hoping he was just sleeping deeply. "Now wake up and tell me you love me too…Stiles?" she pleaded with him one more time. She looked at Scott again. He was stood with tears forming in his own eyes which didn't make her feel any better about the situation. Suddenly Stiles gasped and Lydia felt the life flood back into her. She swallowed loudly in relief as he fluttered his eyes open and looked into hers. Scott dropped down with her and they both helped Stiles sit up.

"Stiles, are you okay?" Scott asked, even though he knew that he was far from being okay. Stiles nodded but didn't say anything, small tears breaking from his eyes. Scott pulled his best friend into a hard hug and when he finally pulled away, Lydia did the same thing. His arms wrapped around her and squeezed her in a comforting way - even though he was the one that had almost died he still wanted to comfort her.

"Let's get you home, yeah?" Lydia offered and Stiles nodded abruptly, still not speaking and Scott and Lydia both pulled him to his feet. She wrapped her arm around him to keep his steady as they walked and Scott backed away slightly, nodding knowingly at Lydia when she furrowed her eyebrows at him: he had heard her tell Stiles she loved him. Had Stiles?

 _I took the Stiles and Lydia scene from Season 5 episode 16 and changed it around so that Lydia was pleading for Stiles if you hadn't noticed :) But i added in the I love you bit :P_


	14. Confession

_Please leave a review telling me what you think! :D_

It had been a week since the Mind Warper had been killed. A week since Derek had been killed. A week for Stiles to recover, but he hadn't.

"Try it again, it will take a while to recover. Be patient and it will happen", Lydia told Stiles as he tried to flick his claws out. The Esprit was gone but he was still weak and recovering. His powers still hadn't come back and he was starting to think that they never would.

"What if they don't come back?" Stiles stressed as he splayed his fingers out, trying once more to push out his claws. It didn't work.

"What happened to the Stiles that said he didn't want to become a werewolf?" Lydia teased, giving him a friendly dig in the arm. He rolled his eyes but smiled at her.

"Considering that it's Beacon Hills, I think I might need to be", he sighed and sat back on his sofa and Lydia joined him. "Guess I'm done with University", he said it like he was disappointed but sitting next to Lydia right now made him sort of glad that he wasn't going back.

"Stiles, you can still go back to Uni. Don't let us stop you from doing what you want", Lydia sat forward and held his hand. She looked deeply into his eyes and he was filled with an urge to kiss her.

"I am doing what I want", he whispered as he leant in closer to her face. She started to lean in too and Stiles' heart beat sped up as his lips moved inches away from hers. They were about to touch when the front door in Stiles' house opened, pulling them apart to see who had come in.

"Hey, Stiles how are you feeling?" Scott asked as he walked into the room. Stiles felt a twinge of annoyance towards his friend but it quickly subsided; he didn't know that he was interrupting something and he was coming to see if his friend was okay.

"Yeah dude, I'm fine", he beamed and pulled an angelic face when he saw the coffee in Scott's hand. Scott grinned and pulled the cup to his chest protectively as Stiles reached his hand out for it. "Scott!" Stiles whined, "I've been ill, gimme the coffee"

"You can't use that excuse forever!" Scott laughed. Stiles continued to give him an angelic smile and eventually Scott gave up and handed him the cup and then sat next to him on the sofa. "What have you two been doing?" Scott raised his eyebrows up and down teasingly as he slid his feet onto the table in front of him. Stiles elbowed his best friend playfully. He looked over to Lydia. She was looking down at the floor blushing, which surprised Stiles – the pack had always teased them about this, even Malia had done it a couple of times while he was still dating her. Why was she suddenly so weird about it?

"Trying to help me go wolf again", Stiles answered, deciding he would ask Lydia about it later. Not while Scott was here.

"Any luck?" Scott asked, his smile dropping slightly but not completely. He didn't want Stiles to know that he was concerned.

"Not yet", Stiles attempted to get his claws out to prove it (not that Scott wouldn't believe him)

Scott opened his mouth to speak but his phone started to buzz in his pocket and showed the screen to Stiles. It was Allison. Stiles nodded to tell him that it was okay for him to take it and Scott went out of the room into the kitchen to answer the call. Stiles placed his cup of coffee onto the table in front of him.

"So…" Stiles looked around the room awkwardly and then eventually settled on Lydia, who was still looking at the ground, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah", Lydia replied but she didn't look up and Stiles knew that something was wrong. He took her hand in his and she finally looked at him. She smiled softly and assured him that she was okay.

"Why did you go weird when Scott was teasing us?" Stiles forced himself to ask – if he didn't ask now, he would talk himself out of it. "He's always doing that, he doesn't mean anything"

"I think this time he did", Lydia spoke quickly and bluntly and she started to blush again, "It was when we were in the woods" she pulled her hand away from his and bit her lip.

"What is it?" Stiles inched closer to her, "You can tell me"

"I said that I…"

Scott walked back into the room and Lydia shrank away. Stiles internally cursed his friend for having the worst timing as he lay back in his chair.

"Allison wants me to come over so I'll leave you to it", Scott acted like he was taking Stiles going wolf but a small wink let him know that he meant something else. Scott beamed and then walked out of the room. Stiles waited until he heard the front door close before he turned back to Lydia; he knew his friend well and wanted to make sure he wasn't eavesdropping.

Lydia watched as Stiles turned towards her. Everything about him was gentle and she always felt safe with him.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" he questioned, his voice soft like butter. She could listen to him speak for hours.

"It doesn't matter", she whispered, chickening out. She really wanted to tell him what she had said in the woods when she thought he was dying because she meant it. She couldn't though. Not while Stiles was with Malia.

"Lydia, tell me", he sounded worried now which made her feel bad – she didn't want him to worry, there was nothing to worry about.

"How's Malia?" she changed the subject, hoping that Stiles would drop it. "Considering everything with…" she stopped, not wanting to make Stiles feel any worse… too late. Stiles looked down at the floor, moisture forming in his eyes. At least it made him drop the topic.

"I haven't spoken to her about it", Stiles confessed as he sat back against the sofa again, away from Lydia. She decided she didn't like the distance but she didn't do anything about it.

"She's your girlfriend Stiles!" she raised her voice a little louder than she had meant to, making Stiles jump. He hadn't expected that.

"What?" he furrowed his eyebrows at her and she had a mini urge to slap him; she thought that he cared about people more than that.

"You should be there for her, she's your girlfriend!" Lydia calmed her voice but sat forward, getting overly worked up about the situation. She would hope that if someone close to her had died that her boyfriend would be there for her.

"Oh right yeah, I never got to actually tell you. The Esprit got in the way", Stiles laughed slightly and ran his fingers through his hair as if he felt stupid.

"Tell me what?" Lydia queried, growing confused.

"I broke up with Malia", he responded. Lydia kept her confused facial expression as she took in what he had just told her. Stiles' eyes turned slightly darker as she continued to speak, "It was the day after I kissed you. I went over to Malia's and told her everything"

"What's everything?" Lydia cut in, wanting him to confirm her speculation.

"How I don't feel that way about her", he explained and then paused for a second, "How I feel about you"

"What did she say?" Lydia whispered. She couldn't believe that all this time Stiles and Malia had been broken up. That's what Allison meant when she had come over to talk to her. She had said that Stiles meant what he did, obviously thinking Stiles had told her. Lydia had thought that she was talking about the kiss but it made more sense now.

Stiles smiled slightly at her persistent questions – they both knew she had a tendency to go twenty questions on people. "She said she knew. That she could sense it. She actually told me to go after you but…"

"I made you think I didn't want you", she finished for him. She could feel her eyes burning with the tears she was holding back. She didn't know why she wanted to cry, Stiles was telling her exactly what she wanted to hear right now.

"When I told her, I wasn't trying to make you… I'm not trying to", he rambled as he looked for the right words.

A relieved tear slipped out of her eye as she pulled his face towards hers. Their lips crashed together and she could feel Stiles' body tense under hers. After a few seconds, it loosened up and his right hand came up to caress her cheek. His other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close to him.

Their kisses were soft and gentle at first but quickly turned feverish and lust filled. All of the sexual tension that had built up between them was being released as Stiles' shirt came over his head. Lydia whimpered when Stiles pulled away, already missing the contact.

"Let's go upstairs… my Dad could come back soon", Stiles muttered, his breathing heavy. Lydia nodded. Her breathing was heavy too. He took her hand as he pushed himself off the sofa and towards the stairs.


	15. I said I loved you

I have decided that this is the end of this story :( I know it ends kind of abruptly and that this story was kind of short but I feel that it stays a better story like this than what I was planning to do :P I hope you enjoyed it

Stiles fluttered his eyes open. Lydia's sleeping face was directly in front of him and he smiled wildly as he thought of last night. Yawning, he slowly inches out of bed without disturbing her and headed to his bathroom to have a shower. He stepped into the stream of water, still smiling like an idiot and rubbed soapy suds into his hair, washing them out again. After a long and pleasant shower, he dried himself with a towel and threw on a t-shirt and some jeans and then walked back into the bedroom.

Lydia was still lying on his bed with her eyes closed. Stiles looked at the time on his clock, '12.15 pm'. "Lydia", he called out to her but she didn't move. "Lydia, wake up", he said a little louder. She stayed completely still but he noticed the corners of her mouth twitch into a smile that she quickly pulled back.

Stiles climbed up the bottom of the bed and sat on Lydia's stomach, pinning her to the sheets and tickled her sides. She erupted into a fit of laughter, squirming under his fingers and trying to push him away,

"I'm up, I'm up!" she giggled and he stopped tickling her. She brought her hand up to her face to wipe a tear that had come from laughing. She was smiling broadly and she looked incredible.

Stiles leant down towards her face, pressing his lips onto hers. She reciprocated, sliding her hands under his shirt, over his abs and then round to his back. His hands were leaning on the bed either side of her head to keep himself balanced.

Suddenly, the door clicked open and his father's voice sounded, "Stiles, Melissa said that I have to check to see…" he stopped talking when he saw he scene in front of him.

Stiles quickly rolled away from Lydia and she pulled the duvet up to her chin. Stiles could hear her heart beating faster – his super hearing was back but that was the last thing on his mind right now.

"Stiles, maybe we should let Lydia put some clothes on", his Dad suggested, raising his eyebrows at his son. Stiles nodded and stumbled off the bed and followed his father out of his room, pulling the door closed behind him.

His father leant his back against the kitchen side, his eyebrows still raised as he looked at his sons messy hair and noticed a small 'love bite' on the side of his neck.

"Dad, I'm so sorry, I…" he started to ramble, not being able to pick the right words in his head.

"Stiles, I'm not angry. You're plenty old enough now, you were in University", his Dad interrupted him.

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "Oh… then why'd you…?"

"Because I don't want to be sitting down here while I know it's happening!" The sheriff raised his arms in a 'that's obvious' kind of way and Stiles nodded. They were both silent for a second and then Stiles risked looking up at his father. They both started laughing. "Melissa told me to check to see if you felt okay but I can see that you're fine", his Dad giggled, grabbing three cups and pouring coffee into them all and then he stopped, "What about Malia?"

"We broke up a few weeks ago", Stiles explained, grabbing one of the coffee cups and sipping at it.

"Well I'm glad to know you still tell me everything", Sheriff retorted sarcastically.

"Yeah sorry, there have been a few distractions if you haven't noticed", Stiles gestured to his pale face and his dad nodded.

"Alright, tell Lydia I'm sorry if I made her feel awkward", he told his son, handing him a second cup of coffee and shooing him out of the kitchen.

Stiles ran up the stairs as quick as he could without spilling the coffee. He opened the door. Lydia was sat, now fully clothed, in the middle of his bed. Her cheeks were bright red but when she noticed that Stiles had come into the room smiling, they dimmed slightly.

"My dad says sorry if he made you feel awkward", Stiles grinned, handing her the cup he hadn't drank out of. She breathed out a sigh of relief and sat back against his head board.

"So he's not mad?" Lydia questioned. Stiles shook his head but she still looked embarrassed.

"Lydia, what does this mean for us?" Stiles turned serious and he sat directly in front of her.

"What do you think that is means?" she smiled gently, taking his hand in hers and then bringing it to her mouth and kissing it. This confirmed it for Stiles and his wild grin from earlier came back.

"Then you might want to save you're embarrassment for when we tell the pack", he laughed and Lydia rolled her eyes knowingly. "By the way, what was the thing you said in the woods?"

"You still haven't dropped that?" a laugh bubbled out of her and she leant forwards, inches from Stiles' face, "I said I loved you", she grinned and then kissed his cheek and sat back again.

"You did?" he couldn't believe it, even after what had happened between them. He couldn't believe that Lydia Martin had said she loved him.

"I did", she beamed.

They both stayed in his room for most of the day, watching movies and talking about things. They found out that they never ran out of things to talk about. At 3:30pm, they decided that it was probably the right time to tell people about them. The longer they waited, the more they would kill them for keeping it a secret.


	16. Epilogue

_A short epilogue, as requested :D_

Stiles keyed into his new house after a long day's work and the sheriff station. He slumped into the living room where Lydia was sat on the sofa unpacking boxes. The place was already starting to feel like a real home. Stiles fell into the seat next to his fiancé and placed his hand on the bump on her stomach. She smiled and leant back in the chair with him.

"Do anything fun?" Lydia raised her eyebrow as she gestured to the blood stain on Stiles' deputy shirt.

"I never knew that this job would mean going wolf so much, it's exhausting!" he complained but he was still smiling – he loved his job.

"Have you had any ideas about names yet?" Lydia rubbed her hand over her stomach towards Stiles' hand and intertwined their fingers.

"I had one for a boy", he sat forward and she beamed expectantly at him, "Derek", Stiles told her sadly. She didn't even pause before she replied.

"I like it. And for a girl?"

"I have no idea. What about Rosabelle? Like the prize" Stiles suggested, looking into her eyes. She pulled an unsure face and then thought for a moment before her eyes turned sad.

"What about Claudia?" she offered, "I mean if you said Derek then…" she looked down at the floor, feeling bad for bringing up his dead mother.

"No I like it. I like it a lot", Stiles reassured her, pulling her chin towards him and placing his lips onto hers softly. "Claudia or Derek it is"

 _ **6 months later**_

Stiles rushed into the hospital and to the front desk, "Lydia Martin?" he told them, becoming impatient while they checked their computers.

"Are you the father of the children?" the secretary asked him, eyeing him up and down as if judging him.

"Yeah", he squinted his eyes at her judging expression and then she directed him to room '198' and he started running.

When he finally reached the right room, the baby was already in the midwife's arms – Stiles mentally cursed his job for keeping him in there too late. He quickly stepped over to Lydia, who looked exhausted and waited for the baby to be given to them.

"It's a baby boy", the woman told them as she handed the child to Lydia. Stiles noticed a slight yellow glint flash in his child's but it quickly vanished again. The midwife must have noticed it too because she had a brief look of shock on her face.

"It's our baby Stiles", Lydia whispered, her voice hoarse and crackling from how tired she felt, "Its out baby boy"

"Baby Derek", Stiles grinned, looking down at the amazing sleeping face of his first child. His first child with the woman of his dreams.


End file.
